63 GERPOR Kamikawa

Germany defeated Portugal by three goals to one in a feel good Third Place Playoff that was played in true sporting spirit. The appointment of the refereeing trio also happened to be in good spirit - Tōru Kamikawa was rewarded for his solid impression in two group stage matches (POLECU - ENGTRI) with the small final. Of course the purpose appointment was purely to satisfy the Asian and African confederations who (deservedly) did not have any referees leading knockout stage matches. That being said, this was a really nice and merited appointment for Kamikawa - he was ridiculously denied a further appointment after a very good appearance in 2002 on home soil so as to not damage Japano-Korean relations. 

This game was mostly conflict free but the first half contained a number of highly interesting Key Match Incidents - let's analyse them!

Key Match Incidents

5' - Penalty to Germany (handling)?

Nuno Valente makes an excellent save, stopping Germany from taking the lead with his arm - problem being of course, Valente didn't keep goal for Portugal. Quite an odd handling which resulted in the ball popping off the underside of his arm, but a clear handling nonetheless. Do you think if punished it should result in a red card?

The officials were a bit unlucky to miss this - AR Yoshikazu Hiroshima had his view simply obscured by an attacking player, but the referee did have some chance to see this. His position was too static: from the centring header, optimally Kamikawa should have run right to follow the shot. He actually chose to run left, a more than credible choice considering that a goal-mouth scramble could occur. Bad luck and if we're crudely honest, nobody really gave a s**t anyway. 

CRUCIAL MISTAKE

7' - Serious Foul Play by Germany no.8?

Kamikawa issued the first sanction of the match here for a tackle by Frings - towards the upper boundary of recklessness, but indeed not a case of SFP for me (force). 

24' - DOGSO by Portugal no.4?

No doubt about the foul - a clear holding. If not held, Klose was going to run in and have a very good chance to score a goal, right? So my preference would be for a Red Card. However, as he was running wide (though only to avoid Costa who cynically fouled him), perhaps there one could find an argument to theoretically support a caution? And to evoke the spirit I touched on in 5', nobody was interested in Kamikawa ejecting players in this match.

42' - Penalty to Portugal (handling)?

Another interesting situation, Metzelder essentially pushes the ball away in his own penalty area. However, there is a chance that Maniche handles the ball himself before or at least simultaneously as that Metzelder handball. Endless (rather futile) frame-by-frame analysis from yours truly did not yield any unambiguous solution; no clear and obvious error you might say!


43' - Second Yellow Card to Portugal no.6?

Costinha, who showed to have the penchant for being cautioned twice and ejected already, commits a borderline careless-reckless tackle which would have stopped a promising attack were it not for a nice advantage played by the referee. According to guidelines which have now been enshrined in the latest edition of the Laws of the Game, as Kamikawa gave Germany a promising attack, it was correct to punish Costinha with a sanction for SPA. A quiet word might not have gone amiss too; coach Scolari had the right idea, and substituted his player off at halftime. 

Approach

For the most part it was a pleasant, football-focused match to referee. Kamikawa (13') and AR Hiroshima (28') made a poor mistake in foul detection between them but in reality, in keeping with the theme of the night, who cares? Kamikawa's manner is worth maybe a few words - did he by virtue of his very amiable presence always arouse pleasant interactions with the players, or would he struggle to take the authorative lead in a combative match? In any case, Kamikawa himself could be forgiven for some bitterness being denied the chance to handle a knockout stage match in 2006 and particularly 2002. 

The mark of a good night for the officials (not forgetting to mention a very nice onside played by Kim Dae-young at 15') - they were clapped by the crowd collecting their medals. A humbling moment for them, and a nice video tribute that I'll leave below:

Tōru Kamikawa - 7,9(3) Yoshikazu Hiroshima - 8,4 Kim Dae-young - 8,4 Coffi Codjia Célestin Ntagungira JPN, JPN, KOR – BEN, RWA	Germany 3-1 Portugal Third Place Playoff
Frings (7.) - Tackle Schweinsteiger (78.) - Celebration (Shirt)	Costa (24.) - SPA (Holding) Costinha (33.) - SPA (Holding) Ferreira (60.) - Tackle